1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a vehicle engine activation control system.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electric parking brake system that causes a parking brake to automatically operate by an electric motor, and a parking brake control device applied to a vehicle provided with an idle stop system that automatically stops the engine, are known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). This parking brake control device includes a parking brake control unit that causes a parking brake to automatically operate in a direction of applying a braking force according to the implementation of idle stopping, and a parking brake release unit that causes the parking brake to automatically operate in a direction of releasing the braking force when there is a request to release the idle stopping and automatically reactivate the engine. The parking brake release unit allows the automatic release, on condition that the start driving force of the vehicle is greater than or equal to a predetermined value.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2012-035773
However, in the configuration described in Patent Document 1, the electric parking brake automatically operates in conjunction with the control state of idle stopping, and therefore the operation of the electric parking brake is implemented with no relation to the driver's intention, which is a problem in that the driver's intention cannot be reflected.
Meanwhile, if the electric parking brake control device is configured to operate according to input from the driver in order to reflect the driver's intention, the reactivation of the engine and the operation of the electric parking brake device are performed at the same time, and the load on the battery may become high. This is because the starter is driven when the engine is reactivated, and the electric motor is driven when the electric parking brake device operates, and the power of the battery is used for driving both of these elements.